# Backup location **URL:** \ **Category:** Announcements\ **Tags:** backups, new-feature\ **Created:** [October 24, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-location/100397 "2018-10-24T21:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![gerhard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/gerhard/32/119479_2.png) [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-location/100397/1 "2018-10-24T21:25:27Z")
A few days ago we added a new feature that allows you to select where backups are stored. The new site setting is called `backup_location` and currently supports “Local” and “Amazon S3”. The setting defaults to “Local” unless you previously set `enable_s3_backups` to automatically upload backups to S3. ### What has changed? Up until now backups were always stored on the server’s local disk – uploading backups to S3 was just an additional, optional step at the end of the backup process. With the new setting you can choose to store backups either locally or on S3. Local storage will be used only for temporary files during backups and restores if you select S3. Also, the Backups tab now works the same for every backup location. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/4/3/4396e21d2717d58147cb0697cfa51983589f4883.png) There’s no need to login into Amazon S3 anymore in order to upload, download or delete a backup. You can even restore a backup directly from S3. ### Plugins Unfortunately the new system breaks [existing plugins](https://meta.discourse.org/t/synchronizer-base-for-any-backup-provider/68018) that automatically sync backups to [Dropbox](https://github.com/berlindiamonds/discourse-sync-to-dropbox), [Google Drive](https://github.com/berlindiamonds/discourse-sync-to-googledrive), [Nextcloud](https://github.com/berlindiamonds/discourse-sync-to-nextcloud) or [Box](https://github.com/berlindiamonds/discourse-sync-to-box). The good news is that it should be a lot easier to add new backup locations from within a plugin than it was before. Do you want to give it a try? In the meantime you can take a look at [Use rclone to sync backups to Dropbox or Google Drive](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-sync-your-backups-to-cloud-storage-alternative-method/97294). ### Is there a Howto topic? Yes, there is. [Configure automatic backups for Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configure-automatic-backups-for-discourse/14855) --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/backup-location/100397)._